Soulmates
by awesomeaislin
Summary: In an alternate universe where you and your soulmate can be identified by matching tattoos that appear as soon as one of you turns 18, Happy Quinn finally meets her soulmate, and it turns out he has been hiding in plain sight all along. A oneshot written in collaboration with somuchmorethanpartners


**Hey guys, this is a collab I wrote with somuchmorethanpartners. Let me know what you think. We were both super excited about it, and I definitely enjoyed writing it.**

 **-Aislin**

The tattoo always appeared when you or your soulmate turned 18. That's how it worked. You both got your tattoo at the same time, and when you met you were supposed to know. You were supposed to know you were meant to be. That you were soulmates.

At age 27, Happy still didn't know who her's was, not that she cared. Her tattoo had appeared long ago, when she was 13. A medium sized tattoo composed of many shapes that came together to form a scorpion. It was probably one of the reasons she had chosen to join the team in the first place, she thought it might lead her to her soulmate.

She really didn't believe in this whole soulmate thing. At least she didn't at first. She didn't like the idea that her fate was sealed and she had no choice in the matter. She also found comfort in the fact that there was supposedly one person on the Earth that was hers and hers only. She just hadn't found him yet. At least she'd thought so, until she saw his tattoo. It was on his leg, just like hers. The tattoo she loved, on the body of a person she was growing to love just as much, though she wasn't willing to admit it to herself yet.

She didn't want it to be him. He was so annoying, so sarcastic, and such a know it all. He wasn't her type. In the past, she had dated bad boys and rebels. He was less leather jacket and more cookie-cutter. She wasn't attracted to that. Well, she did have to admit that his height was appealing, and his hair was kind of cute, and his dorky hat kind of...No. She stopped herself from thinking anything so...so awful. She wasn't in love with him. She couldn't be. It just wasn't possible.

But as soon as she saw the geometric scorpion branded into his leg, she knew she couldn't deny it anymore. She knew the reason she'd been so unexplainably attracted to him. She knew the reason she trusted him. He was her soulmate. But soulmate or not, she's going to kill him from hiding this from her.

"How could you hide this from me?" She was so blindingly angry, it took all the strength she had not to turn violent.

"I had to. We would never have gotten to be friends, you never would have trusted me. I knew when I first met you that you had to trust me before our bond could even mean anything. I didn't mean for you to find out like this," He explained quickly. He had known from the day they had met.

When Walter had first introduced her to him she had been wearing shorts. Shorts that didn't cover the medium sized tattoo on her leg. He had wanted to tell her. The words had been desperate to escape his closed mouth, but he knew just by looking at her that telling her would have been a bad idea.

So, he had kept it a secret for a very long time. Not once in the years they had known each other had it come up. It got to the point where he didn't know how to tell her, but now she knew, and now she was pissed. If he had a quarter for every time he had been right about the future, he would be a very rich man.

"How exactly did you plan on telling me? And when?"

He didn't know what to say. "I don't know, Happy. Some magical way that ends with me actually getting to be your soulmate and not just your friend. It was torture keeping it from you. I know that you've probably lost all trust in me, but just know that all I was trying to do was help. I wanted to do whatever I could to keep you from getting hurt. You've been hurt enough."

She chose not to speak. Instead she chose to walk away. Something so simple had escalated so far, and now Toby was sure he'd lost his soulmate forever. He should have been more careful. If she hadn't seen him after he had torn his jeans into shorts in order to save that woman, they wouldn't be in this mess. Then again, she would have had to find out eventually. For now he just had to hope that she would come back to him when she had calmed down a little bit.

She reentered the room quickly and suddenly, still pissed. "How long have you known?"

"You were wearing shorts when we first met," He informed her.

"I can't believe you did this," She started to rant. "I mean I can actually because you are such an idiot, and you live to annoy me. I mean God. Did it really have to be you? I mean you're just so..."

She was talking more to herself than him at this point, but it didn't matter, he could see her working through the anger in her mind. He could see some of the smoke clear and the fire in her eyes melt away.

No matter how you feel initially, and no matter who they are, your bond with your soulmate is stronger than anything. Your heart was made to love them. Nothing can overpower that overwhelming need to protect and love the person who shares your marking.

Toby just had to hope and pray that she saw the light sooner rather than later. He knew she would come around, she had to, but he wanted her heart now. He wanted to be able to hold her and kiss her and actually act like they were soulmates instead of just friends.

"You should have told me," She finished. She had her hands on her hips, and she had that intense look on her face. This look used to intimidate him, but he had gotten used to it.

"And what would you have done if I'd told you? Would we have the bond we have now if I had told you? I wanted you to pick me because you wanted to pick me. Not because a damn tattoo on your leg told you that you had to," He shouted. He wanted to her to see why he did it. He wanted her to forgive him.

She remained silent and the crease in her forehead that she got when she was thinking only got deeper.

"You're right." She whispered it almost inaudibly.

He didn't respond. He didn't know how.

"All this time you've been telling me you love me, and you had the perfect way to show it and you kept it hidden."

"I didn't fall in love with you as soon as I saw the tattoo. I fell in love with the way you look when you're working on something you love, I fell in love with your attitude, I fell in love with you, not the tattoo. I wanted you to do the same."

"Then I guess you're lucky I did."


End file.
